Applications for the Taylor Community Consulting Program (TCCP) are officially opening this week, so I asked Colton Calandrella about his experience with the TCCP. Colton is a junior at Olin from Colorado Springs, CO studying Economics and Strategy with a minor in Latin American Studies.

The Olin BSBA Undergraduate Program will be highlighting students throughout the semester to share their experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

Colton stumbled into an CEL* information session about the TCCP minutes before it started because it seemed like an interesting opportunity. After hearing the presenter for Catholic Charities explain the project, he knew he had to apply.

He says his experience with the TCCP has been the most rewarding part of his time at Olin. Interacting with local St. Louis organizations, administrators in Olin, mentors at Deloitte, and MBA students exposed him to what he said were valuable perspectives he had never considered before.  Takeaways from the experience included: consulting skills such as defining a problem, managing client expectations, narrowing the issue scope, and project management. He said he could not recommend the TCCP highly enough. From both a personal and a professional development perspective, he said it has been the most valuable activity he has participated in during his time at Olin.

When I asked him what his favorite part of the TCCP was, he had this to say

“My favorite part of the TCCP is the delivery of the final product to the client. Clearly communicating all the work our team had done for the project and seeing how satisfied the client is gives a profound sense of purpose and achievement. Learning about how the St. Louis community works would be a close second, since I think it is so important to get outside of the WashU bubble.”

The next Information Session for the Taylor Community Consulting Program is on Thursday, September 24 at 5:00pm in Bauer Hall 330: Active Learning Lab.

*Center for Experiential Learning